An Orlando Music, Nightlife and Culture Blog

8 Things to do in Orlando This Week: May 25 to May 28, 2015

I present 8 things to do in Orlando this week from Monday to Thursday, this week of May 25 to May 28, 2015. One event involves a funeral for the Confederate flag. Two nights are literary. Three nights contain live entertainment. One night is a DJ night. Also, last but not least, is the showing of a bad movie.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the end of Civil War, multi-media conceptual artist John Sims organizes a 13-state funeral for the Confederate flag.

Sims has planned multi-state belated funerals led by 13 poets across 13 confederate states signified by the 13 stars of the Confederate flag on the 13th hour (1 p.m. EST) of Memorial Day. The services are intended to invite a moment of reflection, remembrance and closure. In each of the participating states, teams (poets, artists, musicians, and community organizers) have been set up to organize various funerals, which may include burials, cremations, and rallies. States included are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Prior to the Memorial Day event, John Sims will release a 13-flag funeral Video Poem featuring 13 poets, one from each of the 13 Confederate states. All funeral services will be streamed live on May 25, 2015 at 1 p.m. EST.

Atlantic Center for the Arts Master Artist Outreach: Paul Harding – Reading followed by Q & A and book signing.

Paul Harding is the author of two novels about multiple generations of a New England family, Enon (Random House, 2013) and Tinkers (Bellevue Literary Press, 2009), which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the PEN American Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers. In an interview with Publishers Weekly about his work, Harding has said that he is “interested in the greater whole of which we are a part, but cannot perceive. That makes death an interesting threshold. It fascinates me in the context of our mortality.”

Harding was a fiction fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center, in Provincetown, MA and has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Harvard University, and Grinnell College. Before becoming a writer, Harding played drums in the rock band Cold Water Flat, with which he toured North America and Europe several times and recorded two albums. Harding has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Currently, he lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two sons.

The appearance of Paul Harding is made possible by Atlantic Center for the Arts Maser Artists In-Residence Outreach Program. Paul Harding is a Pabst Endowed Chair for Master Writers.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information call (407) 317-8367

Marc With a C is hosting another installment of our “bad movie night”. Last month, we watched the “so bad it’s good” classic, “Troll 2”, This time? There’s no salvation. No bright spots to look forward to. Just a wretched wreck of a film. And… it’s FREE!

There’s not much plot to explain. The Garbage Pail Kids were basically just illustrations on trading cards. Someone had the bright idea of making them “come to life” on screen, because apparently we all needed to be punished. The numbers speak for themselves: this is one of the most horrifyingly incompetent, inappropriate and mind-numbingly awful pieces of crud you’ll ever sit through. We guarantee it.

And the best part? Every time you buy a draft beer, you get a raffle ticket to enter you into a drawing to win some prizes! Of course, you’re not eligible to win unless you make it through the whole movie, because we’re sadistic. Come grab, dinner, watch a movie, and possibly win some stuff. Do you have what it takes to sit through this mess? Do you have a strong enough liver for the liquid courage it’ll take? Can you bring yourself to eat while watching this movie?

The original themed-round poetry slam returns! This time, the team captains will be determined by the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place positions after The Grand! Slam! with the Grand! Slam! Poet! Laureate! taking the month off and serving as sacrifice poet for the bout, with a poem that fits the categories of Rounds 1, 2, and 4. Three poets get picked from a mound to join one of four teams! Each team will have four poets, including the team captains!

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THE ROUNDS:

Round 1: #GhazalsOverEverything! All ghazal round! If you don’t know what a ghazal is or have one in your arsenal, GOOGLE THE FORM AND WRITE ONE.

Round 2: The Legend! / Dairy! Round! In tribute to The Milk Bar and The Milk District, all poems must be about legendary figures, things, or places — real or imaginary, living or deceased, and / or dairy products!

Round 3: #BeneathTheCovers! A special COVER POEMS ONLY round n which all poets sent up by their team get a special 3:20 time limit! The catch is (gasp!) ALL COVERS MUST BE MEMORIZED! Cover poems read off a source (paper, notebook, phone, et cetera) as well as poem performed by their original author earn the poet and their team a score of zero for the round! Spoken word covers of song lyrics and Rap verses allowed and encouraged!

Round 4: #EkphrasisOverEverything! All ekphrasis round! If you don’t know what an ekphrasis poem is or have one in your arsenal, GOOGLE THE FORM AND WRITE ONE. All forms of ekphrasis accepted: Songs, recordings, paintings, photographs, statues, architecture, music videos, clips and footage, et cetera!

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As always, 1 extra seasonal point will be given to those individuals who perform poems that can be sent up in multiple rounds (Ekphrastic ghazals that are also Legend! / Dairy!) Cover poems that fit the criteria of all rounds will award the poet who recites them a whopping 4 points towards the season! Group-pieces are allowed and encouraged, including in the cover round! For the cover round, the performing poet may cover the work of another competitor or even one of their team-mates, but group-covers CANNOT include the poem’s original author, not even on beatbox in a group-piece. (The idea is that poets tribute each other.)

While the team captains will be determined by the results of The Grand! Slam!, ALL POETS ON THE MOUND MUST PRESENT EVIDENCE THAT THEY ATTENDED THE ORLANDO FRINGE FESTIVAL IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE. This may include a Fringe button, tickets to a Fringe show, or proof of visiting The Poetry Vending Machine — either as a customer or volunteer author. Any poets who wish to hop on the mound unable to present evidence of their attendance at The Orlando Fringe Festival must receive a co-sign from three other poets willing to confirm that they were there. (Basically, if you want to slam in this event, go to The Fringe Fest.)